German government officials said on the 22nd that the government intends to extend the current epidemic prevention restrictions in response to the coronavirus epidemic in order to reduce the number of new infections per day. On the same day, Reuters quoted a draft to be submitted to Parliament by the German government that the German government intends to extend the “partial lockdown” measures until December 20, and further tighten the epidemic prevention measures.
Germany began a “partial lockdown” for four weeks on the 2nd of this month due to the rebound of the coronavirus epidemic. This round of epidemic prevention restrictions is not as strict as the first round of “lockdown” in the first half of the year. Specific measures include the closure of restaurants, bars, cinemas, theaters, playgrounds and other catering and sports facilities for one month, gathering no more than 2 households and 10 people in public places, and recommending people to give up unnecessary travel and visits. However, barbershops, retail and wholesale stores can continue to operate subject to certain restrictions, and state primary and secondary schools and kindergartens can also remain open in accordance with the provisions of local epidemic prevention policies.
German Sunday Bild published an interview with Finance Minister Olaf Scholz on the 22nd. Scholz said that the epidemic prevention restrictions “must be extended to a period after November 30” and “everything points to this situation”.
According to the epidemic data of the German disease control agency Robert Koch Institute on the 22nd, Germany has a total of 918,269 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 15,741 new cases in the past 24 hours. Generally speaking, the German epidemic is reported and summarized slowly on weekends, so the number of confirmed cases on the weekend is relatively small.
Compared with the “partial lockdown”, the number of new coronavirus cases in Germany in a single day has not decreased significantly. German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to meet with state officials on the 25th to discuss whether to further tighten epidemic prevention restrictions.
Bavarian Governor Marcus Zedd also believes that the “partial lockdown” measures should be extended, ideally “three weeks” until December 20. He said that the number of new cases has not decreased, there are still a large number of patients in intensive care units, and the number of deaths is still increasing. Zed believes that venues such as cinemas, bars and hotels should remain closed, and fireworks and drinking alcohol in public places should be banned to avoid people gathering around the New Year.
